“From the Frontier of Writing”: A Critique

The title of Seamus Heaney’s poem “From the Frontier of Writing” provides the first connotation as to what his following stanzas would be illustrating. As aggressive as it sounds the frontier paints a picture of war and struggle as to which can be seen through his lifetime. Heaney uses this image of war to create the concept of comparing the process a writer goes through to be published to the frontier of a war battle. We see this as a battle between two forces much like the battle being fought at the time between North and South Ireland.

The first image we see is that of someone driving through the frontier, this can be seen as the representation of how Heaney feels when his work is being put through the motion of publishing. As said in the first stanza "when the car stops in the road, the troops inspect its make and number," this is a metaphor as to how one would critique any artists work, how many make the purpose of reading to look closely at the work, picking it apart to find the literal and metaphoric meanings like the in-depth inspection like a cautious soldier on the frontier at the sight of new or unknown entities.

From the second stanza we see Heaney’s deliberate reference to that of the critics, “you catch sight of more on a hill beyond, eyeing with intent” by noticing such, there is a feeling of apprehension, and the concern is raised while waiting to be probed by the awaiting critic. Seen in the second stanza is the phrase “cradled guns.” An oxymoron as the word cradled connects to the images of birth, nurturing, motherhood and infancy. However, the word gun itself brings images of death, destruction and the most potent being war itself. In whole, this stanza emphasizes the images of the many tensions a wr...

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...s he describes the journey through the frontier unpleasant and hard.

In conclusion, it is seen through the language and motif of the poem that there are two separate and distinct structures in the poem, where the first half is comparing the process of writing to crossing a frontier in war as the second half is the reflection of Heaney’s emotions and experiences in the field of writing. Despite his aggressive writing, Heaney makes the poem personal by placing personal pronouns in like “you” giving the reader or critic the feeling of being attacked by the same enemy. This shows that despite being considered one of the best poets, the nervousness of rejection and harsh criticism is still a daunting and challenging aspect of being a writer. “From the Frontier of Writing” proves to Heaney’s audience that writing truly is like surviving the front lines of war.